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This week, Cover songs - Let’s go -
First off I want to give a big shout out to my friends at Jazz Becuzz who are celebrating their 7 year anniversary. If you are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area go to the Jazz Jam at Jazz Becuzz tonight for the best jam in the city with the best musicians on earth. If you’re a musician get your ax and go play.
Now as for cover songs, there are a lot of covers going up on all platforms, and I’m sure you wonder, are people getting paid on these? Should I be doing this? Well let’s start with the obvious; a cover song is a new rendition of a previously recorded song with the melody and lyrics intact done by someone other than the original artist. So now you are that “someone other,” and you have a killer version of a cover that you want to release. Well you could just say “I don’t own the rights to this song,” release it and make as much as you can off of it; but that protects nothing and you will probably get sued, so let’s not do that. If you are looking to record and release a cover there are certain licenses that you must obtain. You will need a mechanical license to release your cover song to the world. A mechanical license is the right to make copies of the song's musical structure i.e. the composition, lyrics and vocal arrangement. There are three ways to get this license to cover: a compulsory licensing procedure, the Harry Fox Agency - if they administer that song, or just ask the publisher of the song, which is easier said than done. The cool part about a compulsory license is - the publisher can’t say no, and has to grant the mechanical license as long as you follow the Copyright Act steps and as Grambling State University Football Coach Broderick Fobbs says - #paythefee!
This week's #IAOTW - Independent Artists Of The Week is indie band Sage Gray from Dallas, Texas.
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